And now for something completely different…

…a little good news.

Survey USA has been polling approval ratings for US Senators, and our Democratic duo from the upper left seems to be doing fine. Patty Murray weighs in with a 56% approval rating, vs a relatively anemic 33% disapproval. Maria Cantwell, gearing up for re-election, has the approval of 55% of Washingtonians, with only 30% disapproving of her first term perfomance.

There's a good bit of demographic and geographic data at the Survey USA site. Among the more notable data points is Patty's 55% approval rating in the presumably bright red eastern Washington region. Since she doesn't have a race to run in '06, it looks like we need to put her in the 5th District, campaigning early and often for our next Democratic challenger.